Internet and Software Resources for Theology and Biblical Studies Students

Do return here as I will be updating this page… this is just a draft. Any other resources then please tell me.

Postgraduate Trinity students are available to access a wide range of journal articles online in PDF format. To do this it is first neccessary to have registered at Bristol University Library (Arts and Social Sciences) and to have received a username and password. Once this has been done the easiest way to get things going is to change the proxy settings on your internet connection. This can be done for you automatically by clicking here. Once this has been done return to the bristol university library webpage and you should be asked to put in your username and password.  Your computer is now setup to access online journals. There are a number of ways to find appropriate journal articles. Some students use J STore. Alternatively you can just go straight to journal websites if you know what you are looking for. ie. Journal for the Study of the New Testament. Once articles have been downloaded they can be printed off. On my Apple Mac I use the free pdf software called Skim which allows you to take notes on PDFs and highlight the text.

Of the making of bibliographies there is no end. Thanks to bibliography software this task becomes signifcantly easier and less time consuming. Some people us the old favourite called EndNote which is great but is expensive. I use the free piece of software called Zotero.

Zotero requires that you have installed  firefox web browser. I reccomend downloading the beta version of zotero as this allows you to sync your library on mulitiple machines and means that if your computer breaks your zotero library is safe.  I highly reccomend this free piece of software. I would advise though that it better to import bibliography details from academic libraries (such as Oxford) rather than through amazon or google books.

Google Books and Google Scholar are powerful and growing websites  which can be searched. They are often my first port of call when lookign for books and articles in my research area.  If a book is quoted I often type the quote into google books and i can read the surrounding context of the citation.

There are a number of different options of Bible programs for the scholar. Some people prefer a free online Bible which works within your web browser. However, the best option is to download bible software onto your machine. This will allow you to use the program when not online. E-Sword is a free bible program which is pretty good (considering it is free) for general english bible searches and using it like a high speed exhaustive concordance. However, the best option (except it costs money) is to go with either Accordance (for Mac only I think), BibleWorks or Logos. Detailed review of these products can be found here. I use Logos and Trinity Students are able to receive a  significant discount by going through this link .  You can add books at a later stage and it is possible to buy such delights as Word Bib Commentaries, Anchor Bible Dictionary, Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics, IVP Dictionaries.  It can be expensive (depending on what you get) but they do have a payment plan which can spread the payment over several months for only a few extra pounds. Please see me if you would like advise, a demo or anything else.

For those with a mac I do recommend taking a look at Scrivener

Here are a few random websites which I visit. Some are better than others….

I don’t use Word but use OpenOffice and NeoOffice instead. They are free.

Free Don Carson and John Piper Books

N.T Wright Articles,Videos and Mp3

Wayne Grudem offers an mp3 course through his systematic theology.

Spotify. If you like to listen to music but don’t have money to buy CDs.

For free theology and biblical studies lectures in Mp3 format try here, here and here.

Student Discount on a Mac

Free PDF version of decent English translation of the Septuagint

New Testament Gateway

For those interested in New Perspective on Paul

Free commentary by Don Garlington on Galatians

For those interested in Reformational Philosophy

African Anglicans and a Mission to Europe

Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi told 400 African Anglicans bishops in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams and Uganda’s Prime Minister that there is a hunger for the Word of God in England where he recently spoke to 17,000 people. “I called back home to send missionaries to America and Europe to take back the gospel from these sending nations. It is an ailing church in need of guidance.” Full article here

Pre-Existence of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels

Simon Gathercole Lectures on the Preexistence of Christ in the Synoptics

• The Synoptic “I Have Come” Sayings of Jesus and Pre-Existence Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (MP3s)

Hans Kung’s Eulogy at Barth’s Funeral

A friend sent me an e-mail today which included within it Hans Kung’s eulogy given at Karl Barth’s funeral. It ends as follows,

Many years ago we were discussing, as we did so often, the pope and the Petrine office in the Church. And as he did not then agree with me, I said smilingly: “Well, all right. I grant you good faith!” Thereupon he became serious and said: “So you allow me good faith. I have never conceded myself good faith. And when once the day comes when I have to appear before my Lord, then I will not come with my deeds, with the volumes of my Dogmatics in the basket upon my back. All the angels there would have to laugh. But then I shall also not say, ‘I have always meant well; I had good faith.’ No, then I will only say one thing: ‘Lord, be merciful to me a poor sinner!’ That is the common belief of Christendom. And our comforting hope is that Karl Barth will be given that for which he prayed.’

Amen!

Cultural Callings

Cultural Calling

Cultural Callings

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Gordon Fee on Revelation

Thanks to M.Bird for the link

The brilliant scholar Gordon Fee is interviewed about his new commentary on Revelation. Click here for link

Mars Hill Audio: Culture Shaping? Education? Worldview?

The latest issue of Mars Hill MP3 journal is now online.  I highly recommend it for those interested in some of the current discussions surrounding worldview and culture from some of todays leading christian thinkers. The contributions of Smith and Hunter are particularly significant given the influence of their recent books .

MARS HILL AUDIO Journal Volume 101 January/February 2010

Part 1

James Davison Hunter, on how the most prominent strategies of Christian cultural engagement are based on a misunderstanding about how cultures work Paul Spears, on why Christian scholars need to understand their disciplines in ways that depart from conventional understanding Steven Loomis, on why education needs to attend more carefully to nonquantifiable aspects of human experience

Part 2

James K. A. Smith, on how education always involves the formation of affections, and how the form of Christian education should imitate patterns of formation evident in historic Christian liturgy Thomas Long, on how funeral practices have the capacity to convey an understanding of the meaning of discipleship and death William Cavanaugh, on the distinctly modern definition of “religion,” and how the conventional account of the “Wars of Religion” misrepresents the facts in the interest of consolidating state power

Isaiah 55 Keynote Presentation

Isaiah 55

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Discussing Universalism with Robin Parry

You may notice, from the poster below,  that I get to give a 10 minute response to what is sure to be a fascinating and controversial paper by Robin Parry.

Isaiah 40-55 and the New Exodus

One of the major themes of Isaiah 40-55 is the ‘new exodus’ in which YHWH will finally act to deliver his people.

Isaiah 40:3–5 (ESV) — 3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 41:17–20 (ESV) — 17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. 18 I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. 19 I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, 20 that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Isaiah 42:14–16 (ESV) — 14 For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant. 15 I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools. 16 And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.
Isaiah 43:14–21 (ESV) — 14 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice. 15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.” 16 Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, 17 who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 18 “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 20 The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, 21 the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.
Isaiah 48:20–21 (ESV) — 20 Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!” 21 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed out.
Isaiah 49:8–12 (ESV) — 8 Thus says the Lord: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, 9 saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ They shall feed along the ways; on all bare heights shall be their pasture; 10 they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. 11 And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up. 12 Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.”
Isaiah 51:9–10 (ESV) — 9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? 10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?
Isaiah 42:11–12 (ESV) — 11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands.
Isaiah 55:12–13 (ESV) — 12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”